Cabinet puts off special Germany trip after Netanyahu falls ill

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet on Sunday were forced to cancel their planned visit to Germany, after the premier fell ill and was advised by his physician not travel.

The prime minister was diagnosed with a viral infection and a light fever late Sunday evening, after returning from the Eilat Journalist Conference. His doctor recommended he stay home however, to recuperate from the virus.

He and his ministers were supposed to travel to Berlin for a joint cabinet session with their German counterparts, a symbol highlighting the two nations' bond six decades after the Holocaust. The session has been postponed until a later date.

Aides to the prime minister said he was not suffering from any serious medical condition, just a virus that requires rest and abstention from extraneous activities.

The special joint session was to be the first time an Israeli government will convene in Berlin, the former headquarters of the Nazi regime. The visit is more than ceremonial: High on the agenda will be Germany's latest push to win the release of captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit held for three years by Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu said Sunday that the visit would focus on Mideast security and diplomacy. "Germany is a loyal partner in the great efforts to promote peace and strengthen security," he told his Cabinet.

Since the two countries established diplomatic ties in 1965, Germany has become perhaps Israel's strongest ally in Europe. Germany is Israel's second-largest trade partner - after the U.S. - and the Germans have played a leading role in international efforts to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions. It also has paid $39.4 billion to Holocaust survivors in Israel.

Monday's session follows a historic visit last year by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her Cabinet to mark the 60th anniversary of Israel's independence. She addressed the Israeli parliament and expressed shame over the Holocaust. At the end of Merkel's 20-minute speech, delivered in German, legislators gave her a standing ovation.

Merkel's spokesman, Ulrich Wilhelm, said the top themes Monday would include environmental issues, economic cooperation and progress of the Middle East peace process. He said the international effort to halt Iran's suspect nuclear program would also come up.

Though not on the official agenda, the German-mediated efforts to arrange a prisoner swap between Israel and Hamas will certainly be discussed.

Wilhelm would say only that Germany is ready to give help and support wherever it is possible and wanted.

Netanyahu's entourage will include seven Cabinet ministers - including his defense and foreign ministers - who will meet separately with their German counterparts.

"This is a serious upgrade of the relations to the highest level possible," said Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, one of the participants on the trip.

In an emotional visit to Germany in August, Netanyahu received the blueprints to the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz. A month later, he waved the yellowing sketches at the United Nations in a passionate critique of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's questioning of the Holocaust.

Monday's visit also coincides with the opening in Munich of the trial of accused Nazi criminal John Demjanjuk.

In the 1980s, Demjanjuk stood trial in Israel accused of being the notoriously brutal guard Ivan the Terrible. He was convicted, sentenced to death, then freed when an Israeli court ruled he was a victim of mistaken identity.

The 89-year-old, who was deported from the U.S. to Germany earlier this year, now stands accused of being a low-ranking guard at the Sobibor death camp.